ARTICLES ABOUT DISCRIMINATION BY DATE - PAGE 3

MOSCOW -- There will be no discrimination against gay people during the Winter Olympics in Sochi next month, a Russian lawmaker said Monday. Former Olympic ice-skating champion Svetlana Zhurova, 42, who is a member of Russian President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party in parliament, said homophobia was hard to eradicate in Russia but the host nation would stick to the Olympic Charter banning discrimination. Russia has caused considerable controversy in the run-up to the Games with an anti-gay propaganda law that critics say curbs the rights of homosexuals.

By Jonathan Stempel Jan 22 (Reuters) - A unit of Cargill Inc, one of the world's largest privately held companies, has agreed to pay $2.24 million to nearly 3,000 rejected job applicants to settle U.S. Department of Labor charges of hiring discrimination based on race and gender. The Labor Department on Wednesday said the payment by Cargill Meat Solutions represents back wages and interest, and will go to 2,959 applicants who were turned down for production jobs at three meat-processing plants between 2005 and 2009.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday no athlete would face discrimination at next month's Winter Olympics, hoping to ease international concern over a Russian law banning gay "propaganda". Aware that the success or failure of the Sochi Games will help shape his legacy, Putin has closely identified himself with the $50-billion event which opens on February 7. Putin outraged many in the West last year by signing a law banning the spread of homosexual "propaganda" among minors.

VATICAN CITY, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Thursday denounced discrimination against Christians, including in countries where religious freedom is in theory guaranteed by law. He delivered his traditional noon prayer and address to thousands of people in St Peter's Square on the day the Roman Catholic Church commemorates St. Stephen, its first martyr. The 77-year-old Argentine pope asked the crowd for a moment of silent prayer for "Christians who are unjustly accused and are subjected to every type of violence".

* Rights abused almost everywhere despite U.N. pacts * Blasphemy laws used against critics of religion * Islamic states worst for atheists but West not perfect By Robert Evans GENEVA, Dec 10 (Reuters) - In 13 countries around the world, all of them Muslim, people who openly espouse atheism or reject the official state religion of Islam face execution under the law, according to a detailed study issued on Tuesday. And beyond the Islamic nations, even some of the West's apparently most democratic governments at best discriminate against citizens who have no belief in a god and at worst can jail them for offences dubbed blasphemy, it said.

DENVER (Reuters) - A Colorado bakery owner illegally discriminated against a gay couple when he refused to bake a wedding cake for the pair last year because of his Christian religious beliefs, a judge ruled on Friday. Administrative Law Judge Robert Spencer ordered Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in suburban Denver, to accommodate sex-couples or face fines and other possible penalties. "At first blush, it may seem reasonable that a private business should be able to refuse service to anyone it chooses," Spencer wrote in his 13-page ruling.

Most of us walk around with an unfairness detector in our heads, and we're at our happiest when that detector is not going: Bleep! Bleep! Bleep! Fairness is good. You can quote me on that. Fairness in the workplace is not just good; it's critical. Study upon study has shown - and logic would dictate - that workers who are treated unfairly are not working at their highest potential. Employees who see others treated unfairly are equally hampered. So there's a pragmatism to ensuring fair treatment - it's good business.